


My Jolly Sailor Bold

by Ardenwood



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: 1700's, Historical, M/M, Olden Times, Pirate!Harry, Sailor - Freeform, its about pirates, larry stylinson - Freeform, not really - Freeform, pirates of the caribbean - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-22
Updated: 2014-02-22
Packaged: 2018-01-13 08:17:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1219132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ardenwood/pseuds/Ardenwood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Louis ever wanted was to be a great explorer, though he may have gotten more than he was bargaining for when he's taken aboard the ship of Captain Harry Styles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Jolly Sailor Bold

**Author's Note:**

> _"No nothing can console me like my jolly sailor bold"_
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> Because every time I want a freaking pirate!AU there isn't any except for the god damn Prince of the Seven Seas. 
> 
> It's also kind of a Pirates of the Caribbean AU.

_Small fishing boat, 20 mi off the coast of England, S-SW, yr 1723_

Captain Louis William Tomlinson has just set sail from London harbor. His grand ship -the fastest in all the world- is on a journey to discover great new worlds. Louis looks through his spyglass, and sees nothing less than endless possibility. Roaming lands stretching on for eternity, as far as the eye can see. He calls commands to his men who scurry about on deck, as he swings from atop the mast, reveling in the sea air around him. On his last adventure he found himself trapped in the hands of pirates, and had to singlehandedly break free, and take over their ship to gain his freedom. And the quest before then he and his men discovered a cave, filled to the brim with jewels and coins, more than you've ever seen in your life. Who knows the wonders this trip has in store. "Follow the horizon!" Captain Tomlinson shouts to his crew, putting his spyglass away and looking at the parchment in his hands where he has mapped all the places he's discovered, the page filled with locations.

Just then his ship is abruptly halted, and stalls where it is. Just like every time, Louis thinks. "Come on boy, get down from there! Get your head out of the clouds!" Louis looks down at the surface of the tiny fishing boat, full of nets, and hooks, and one grumpy looking man (the only other person onboard) staring right up at him. Louis takes a deep, exasperated breath, he never much likes being forced back into his actual reality.

His real life, where he's nothing more than an assistant to a fisherman, and nothing exciting ever happens to him. He looks back at the parchment in his hand, it actually only holds an outline of his little village in England and the sea where they fish, he rolls it back up and puts it in his pocket. Louis grabs a firm hold of a nearby rope and then swings down, spinning through the air, the wind whipping around his face. He lands firm on his feet, right in front of Mr. Griggs, causing the man to jump back.

"Christ, Louis! You know I hate it when you do that" Mr. Griggs says, giving the young man a pointed look. Louis has the decency enough to look sorry, "Sorry, Captain" Mr. Griggs brushes himself off, and instructors Louis to set up the big net today, they're trying for swordfish this time, if they get so lucky.

Louis could set up these nets in his sleep by now, given how many days he's wasted on this boat, in this spot. It looks like it's going to be a beautiful day Louis notices, clear skies and calm breezes, a beautiful day for sailing, and Louis is trapped on this boat, never moving. But it's all he can do to make money to help his mother put food on the table for him and his four little sisters.

"Ready Mr. Griggs?" Louis asks, holding the net just overboard, not letting it hit water yet. He gets no response. "Mr. Griggs?" He looks to the other side of the boat, and sees Mr. Griggs staring in fear out into the water. Louis pulls the net back in and moves to where the man is staring "What is it?" he asks just as he looks out to see a ship drifting close by, massive clouds of smoke coming out of the woodwork, clearly on fire in some places and holes blown all over the place, obviously from cannon fire.

"That's a Royal Naval ship, and it looks like it's been attacked" Mr. Griggs' voice is barley above a whisper, in awe for good reason, nothing like this ever happens out here. Louis is just as stunned as his shipmate but not so much that he can't hear the screams of help coming from the sinking ship. Louis hops up on to the ledge and braces himself for only a few seconds before he dives head first into the water bellow, there are men on that ship who need help and he won't just stand and watch. As he starts to swim he can hear Mr. Griggs screaming after him, asking _What the bloody hell do you think you're doing?_ Louis doesn't waste time replying though, just swims harder. The closer he gets the more prominent the screams become. It's not many voices, Louis guesses -with a heavy heart- that means most of them did not survive.

He reaches the ship and climbs up the side, using the blasted holes in the wood as a makeshift ladder. Louis isn't sure what his great plan is to help these men, but he wasn't going to just let them die without a chance. Maybe he can get them onboard Mr. Griggs' boat and then to safety. 

Once on deck he moves about quickly, leaving sopping wet footprints in his wake, looking for any of the howling survivors. He comes upon one laying under some rubble, military uniform singed around the ends and holes burnt into it. He rushes to the mans side quickly.

"Are you alright? What happened to your ship?" The man can barley lift his head -which is full of grey hair nice styles into a formal do but now wild and all over- obviously badly injured, but he must hear Louis' questions because he turns to look right at him, and mutters so softly, and strained, that Louis has to lean down right next to his face "Pirates" and then the man points out across the boat, and for the first time Louis notices the other ship, ratty sails and pirate flag flown high, it's men clearly raiding the debris for loot after their massacre. Louis has never been more afraid in his life, but also more excited at the same time. He looks behind him to see if Mr. Griggs is still there and Louis is certain he must've noticed the pirate's ship as well, because Mr. Griggs is sailing away and Louis feels his stomach drop. Now he definitely can't swim back to the boat for safety, he's stuck here.

He swallows down the lump that's forming in his throat, and tells himself he needs to be brave, adventurers are brave. And this is the most exciting thing that's ever happened to Louis, even if he is most likely about to be killed. He lays down next to the man he spoke too, who is clearly dead now, and Louis hates to disrespect the man by using him as camouflage but he has no other choice.

He can see two pirates nearby, casing the deck for valuables or survivors no doubt. One is tan, and has hair black as ink. If Louis were to be honest about first impressions, the man looked more like royalty than a pirate. And the other man had blonde hair and was jumping about in laughter, much to the tan ones disapproval. They were talking, but Louis couldn't hear what they were saying. They looked young, Louis thought they must of started in the pirating business early on in life.

They're moving closer, and Louis is trying to bury deeper into the floor hoping that would make him less noticeable. He supposed he could of just jumped back in the water to try and get to safety, but it's too late for that now. If he tries to do that he will be seen. Suddenly a supreme sadness comes over Louis, realizing that if he is caught this may be the end of his life. He never accomplished any of the things he dreamed of doing, never ventured in the world farther than his own town and the fishing waters. Louis doesn't want that to be the end for him, so he makes a quick decision, he decides to fight his way out.

He grabs hold of the sword that belonged to the man lying on the floor next to him, and hops up onto his feet. He doesn't want to wait for them to see him first and lose his chance, so he takes off right for them. They notice the young man charging towards them quite quickly, and all they do is smirk as they dodge Louis' first swing. It doesn't take long for Louis to realize he's in trouble, and he gets a strong sense of panic. The two pirates gang up on him and knock the sword from his grip, but not before Louis takes a swipe at the blonde one though, cutting his upper arm. That makes a stunned look cross over the pirates face as he clutches his arm. The tan one grabs him by the arms and Louis tries and tries but can't break free, the pirate just grabs tighter hurting Louis more.

"Take the survivors! Let's get outa here" the pirate holding Louis yells to the other pirates, then starts dragging Louis to the ramp connecting the pirate ship to the Naval ship. Louis doesn't know what's going to happen to him now, he expected to be killed not taken onboard their ship. There aren't many survivors, about ten or eleven including Louis. Only a few are in military uniform, the others must have been just ship hands or other workers.

When taken onboard the pirate ship they are immediately dragged bellow deck and thrown into rusty cells, they're isn't even time for Louis to notice anything about the ship itself. 

After the captives are left bellow deck, and the pirates go back up to the fresh sea air, everything gets very quiet. No one knows what to do, or what's going to happen to them. Louis backs up all the way to the wall behind him, and realizes the seriousness of what's just happened to him. He's been taken by hostile pirates and doubts he'll ever go home again, doubts he'll ever see his family again. What will they do when he doesn't return home later? Perhaps Mr. Griggs has already informed his family of what happened. Maybe they've already started the funeral arrangements without his remains, thinking them destined to be lost at sea.

"I don't know you" Louis hears a voice say, and it's loud in this obvious silence and startles him out of his pitying thoughts. It's one of the other men in the cell with him, he's in full navy uniform -minus the hat. He looks young, to young to be in a high rank of power. "I don't know you either"

The young man eyes Louis, ignoring his snark "You weren't a member of our crew, how did you get here?"

"I saw your ship from our fishing boat and swam to see if I could help anyone, see how well that turned out"

"You -swam to save us?" The officer asks, clearly in disbelief. Louis just continues to look at the floor and nods his head. "That was very brave, Mr?" The man asks.

"Louis, Tomlinson" Louis says, holding out his hand to shake the way he was taught. The officer takes it with a firm grip "Liam Payne, nice to meet you, Mr. Tomlinson"

"If it's not too much, can you tell me what happened? Louis asks.

Liam takes a breath and licks his lips, chapped from sea air "We didn't expect an attack so close to the coast, especially by pirates, so when they struck it was by complete surprise and we found ourselves defenseless" Liam's voice got lighter as he went, he was clearly disappointed in himself.

"Who's ship are we on now?" Louis asks.

"By the flags I saw, it looks like Captain Styles, he's wanted all through Europe" Louis furrows his brows, he realizes he doesn't know why he asked, he still doesn't know who that name belongs to.

The conversation dwindles after that, the cell returning to it's original silence. Louis takes out his rolled up parchment, designated for the places he's seen, it's crusty from sea water now, and thinks if he had a quill he would add this ship's prison cell to the map. He always daydreamed about The Great Louis William Tomlinson - _all the best explorers had three names_ he told his mother- in his adventures and defeating pirates, now that he's actually in the situation he doesn't think it would be so simple to take over the ship. So he rolls his paper back up and puts it back in his waistband, and raises his fingers to his eye, making a circle around one and another circle far out in front of him; the way he always did when The Great Louis William Tomlinson was looking through his spyglass at endless possibilities.


End file.
